If you had to boil the real estate position down to one trait that predicts whether a person will be successful, what trait would be at the top of your list?

For many of the real estate hiring managers I’ve worked with over the years, the most desirable characteristic is entrepreneurism.

Hiring managers want to know: Does the person have the desire, ability, and financial resources to start and manage their own business?  If a person has this trait, it seems that a lot of other obstacles in the hiring process can be overcome.

But, how can this be accessed during an interview and subsequent follow-up interactions?  Isn’t the idea of entrepreneurism kind of nebulous?

Summer Suleiman, a writer at The Idea Village in New Orleans, will share her insight on this topic today.  She has interviewed dozens of entrepreneurs, ranging from new founders of fledgling companies to seasoned leaders who have launched several successful businesses.

Find out how she has learned to recognize a true entrepreneur during an interview.

Defining Entrepreneurism

Here are some of Summer’s thoughts.

So what is the stuff that successful entrepreneurs are made of? How do you define that certain je ne sais quoi that enables an entrepreneur to convince skeptics their idea is the next big thing? Moreover, what allows those entrepreneurs to take their idea and turn it into a profitable company?

They’re persistent.  Launching a startup is a marathon, not a sprint. It requires stamina, and you have to be fit to sustain the lifestyle. Founders inevitably come up against failure on a daily basis. While some ideas work, more often they don’t. You try, fail, and try again.

They’re adaptive.  The startup world can be a jungle, and the most successful entrepreneurs have a keen ability to quickly adapt to their habitat…. Successful entrepreneurs recognize that and are willing to try a different approach when something isn’t working.

They’re risk takers. Entrepreneurs are, above all, risk takers. They are willing to part ways with a job that offers a plush salary and benefits to pursue their idea or business. Or they start with nothing — and no guarantee.

They’re confident.  At our hub, we have a saying plastered on the walls: Trust Your Crazy Ideas. It’s the foundation for the work we do with every entrepreneur who walks through our doors. Every successful entrepreneur who built a great enterprise started with a crazy idea.

They’re trustworthy. In the startup world, the success of an entrepreneur often hinges on building trust. Time and time again, I’ve heard the words, “People don’t invest in companies, they invest in people.” Before they can persuade someone to sign a check and infuse a startup’s lean bank account, entrepreneurs must first convince the investor that they can be trusted.

Interviewing for Entrepreneurism

Summer’s five traits give us a much better idea of how to quantify this nebulous idea.  With this information, it would be easy to develop a set of open-ended interview questions designed to uncover these characteristics.

As you ask questions, remember the objective is to encourage the candidates to talk and share their stories (this is not a test you’re administering).   Open-end dialog allows rapport to blossom between you and the candidate.

Avoid questions like:  Do you feel you’re trustworthy?  (it is not open-ended and gives your agenda away in asking it this way).

Rather use questions like:  Wow, in your current job you seem to have adapted to several challenging circumstances. What are some other situations in your life where you had to adapt quickly?

Once they share a couple stories (that you’ve guided them to share), it’s very affective to close this portion of the dialog with a comment like this:

Based on what you shared, you seem to be a very adaptive person.  This is very interesting because most of our high-performing agents have this trait as well.

By connecting their stories to the traits of your agents, you’re helping them feel like a fit in the agent role on your team.  As we discussed in previous WorkPuzzles, “perception of fit” is a powerful force for attraction.

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